Well - if I was teaching Grade 8 Religion, right about now would be our unit on 'Angels', and of course today (as well as the 29th) would have been big days on the calendar as being the Feast of the Holy Guardian Angels and the Feast of the Holy Archangels (respectively). I hear of many stories here where I'm sure angels have intervened - such as in violent attacks with large weapons where people simply brushed themselves off... and walked away unharmed. When occurrences like this happen, people look at the Padre's (our Chaplains) and say: 'Good work Padre'... but even they have no explanation. Well - we know God has a hand in all things - and He uses His Angels in this world. Mother Church teaches us that (just as I'm told is the title of the Liverpool Football Team's anthem) You'll never walk alone. How true this is. Anyways - as we would have discussed in class - talk to your Guardian Angel, get to know him/her, give him/her a name! You'll never regret it. I'll tell you about some of the miraculous things that have happened here when I get back.
On another note of humour - a few days ago, I met a member of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF - which is a general title for all Afghan National armed / security services, such as the Army and the National Police, etc.). It was funny because this guy didn't even look 'Afghan'. Anyhow, he saw me and smiled while someone told me that he was trying his best to learn English. I thought that was nice and we exchanged a few basics like: 'hello'. 'how are you?', 'I am fine', etc.. As I was in a bit of a hurry, I turned to leave, then I heard him saying: 'Boy! Boy!', then snickering to his friends. At first, I was confused. Was he calling me 'Boy'? That would have been weird, plus - why would he say something like that? Was he being derogatory? Was he trying to make me laugh? What was he trying to do? His group was all huddled together and snickering at me as I stood there dumbfounded, trying to assess if our lesson turned somehow into mockery, or some sort of cultural trap. I was - after all - on their turf at the moment, and under their customs and cultural rules - and sometimes, all is not how it seems. Then, as I was trying to process the moment, it hit me. He was trying to say 'BYE BYE', and they were laughing because of my confused stare at them! Haha! Well, I'm glad I didn't do anything rash! Whew! It's always best to step back and think things through before jumping to conclusions. We all had a good laugh together - they offered me a chair so we could continue the conversation. I had to go, but if I ever do have a chance again to sit with that group - I'd love to! (Oh - and I did teach him how to pronounce 'bye' as in 'good bye') ;)
In other fantastic news: We had bananas on the menu! You may think this is weird (and that I must have lost my mind), but believe it or not - when the odd chance comes around that there is some sort of fresh fruit (that isn't the usual), some people kinda get excited. I once saw a guy load up his tray with bananas... and I mean LOAD UP! I must admit - I was happy to see the change as well, but I wasn't that desperate! Maybe - give me a few more weeks here, and I'll be breaking down and crying tears of joy to see a peach, or something! Haha!
Well, Happy Feast Day guys - 'You'll never walk alone!'
1 comment:
Captan's Blog, Blog date 52102008. Sounds really cool about all the Guardian angel, i named mine, but its a name from a video game, so i dunno if thats a bad thing, however it is a really cool name and the character was a guardian so it semms fitting. Also the character was really cool. Also Sir if you want ill try to send a banana through the mail, that will be fun =D; I'm not sure if anyone has told you about the new recruits, we got a puppy and some sparkles. Private Wolff and Private Markle-Tarling. They are advancing pretty quickly. Training for jumping off the del centre starts tomorrow, but it just won't be the same without the Captan and his officer powers, so i know if mess something up I'm good, however the 2Lt has great powers too but its just not Captan powers! Anyway i gotta go, sleep and whatnot. Hope your doing well. And if worst comes to work I'll send ya some Jamaican food, maybe some Plantin =D
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